Millions of people are currently required or advised to take over-the-counter or prescription medications on a daily basis or at specific intervals during the day. One of the major problems associated with periodic medications is the difficulty in remembering to take a medication, or remembering whether or not a particular scheduled medication has been taken. For example, it is not unusual for an individual to be prescribed medication to be taken three or four times a day. At times during the day, the user may not have a clear memory of whether or not a medication had been taken. Without an effective method of recording medication information, individuals and medical personnel may have difficulty remembering if and when pills were taken. The user or medical personnel need to know when the last dosage was taken in order to prevent overdosing. If an individual loses track they may end up missing a dosage or taking double their prescribed dosages, both of which can be dangerous to the individual's health. Incorrect consumption can result in ineffectiveness of the medicine or extending the length of an illness. Additionally, it is common that some individuals are required to take important medications for mental health on a prescribed schedule wherein forgetting to take a medication may have severe consequences. The same holds true for heart medications and a whole list of important pharmaceutical treatments.
Over the years, numerous efforts have been undertaken to include physical reminders on medication containers to remind the individual taking the pill to take the correct pill at the proper interval. For example, a reminder device for medication containers has been proposed which includes complex rotatable dials disposed within the cap of a pill bottle. One dial may include the day and another dial may display the time of day or the medication interval number for the day.
An example of a rather complex medication reminder is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,392, issued to Price which discloses a prescription timer that includes a clock face placed upon the bottle cap that also includes an additional portable transparent overlaying cap that can be rotated to show a predetermined time for taking a pill. A clock face of a size to be applied to the top of a medication container cap would be inordinately small for use by many individuals, especially those with limited vision. The relatively small size would also render it inconvenient to use and subject to inaccurate readings.
Another example of a medication reminder is U.S. Pat. No. 9,021,981, issued to Raiti de Boyles that discloses a Pill Reminder Wheel that is to be mounted on a surface of a medication container. This invention comprises two disks and a dial. The base disk shows the day, and the cover disk designates the dosage number. The dial points to the dosage number indicia. The assembly is flat and would only be suitable for containers having a reasonably large flat surface on which to mount the device. It would be extremely small and difficult to read and operate if, for example, it were to be used on a small tubular shaped bottle. This type of device would require manufacturing of various sized units to accommodate medication containers of various shapes and sizes.
While numerous types of solutions to the problem of remembering to timely administer medications have been suggested, none of these solutions have gained wide-spread acceptance. Some of the more expensive proposed solutions can be used effectively but are too complex, cumbersome, and costly to be applied to the wide variation in the configuration of medication containers being manufactured and utilized. Presently known medication reminder systems have not achieved a high degree of acceptance and use. Consequently, there is an obvious need for a simple, practical, effective, and inexpensive reminder system for reminding users to consistently take their medications in a timely manner. An innovative solution with significant advantages is needed in order to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art.